Ryoko's LossNarrative
by FallenDruid
Summary: Narrative version of my earlier work.


Ryoko's Loss  
  
New, revised, and massively expanded. There's also actual why the hell is Tenchi on  
  
Jurai, sort of, any ways. And in narrative format, too! Which some people requested.  
  
Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Pioneer and AIC, except for any of mine, and  
  
Carvin Kenzaki, who is owned by Thomas '009' Doscher, who leased him out to me with great  
  
reluctance. I am not making any money off of this. I really love your guys work...  
  
Copyright FallenDruid, 11/5/00. Reproduction of this fic without authorization is  
  
not nice. Ask first. And don't steal it (unless your name is AIC). I have friends in  
  
low places.  
  
WARNING: THIS IS A VERY DARK FIC. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.  
  
Ryoko's Loss, Chapter 1.  
  
**********  
  
Sasami crept out onto the bridge of Ryo-Ohki. She didn't want to disturb Ryoko.  
  
Ryoko thought that she hid it well, but she could tell...Ryoko missed Tenchi. Her  
  
breath caught in her throat as she caught sight of Ryoko. She was just...sitting there.  
  
Normally, she was so active, so full of life, that she pumped Sasami's spirits up just  
  
by being Ryoko...but now...she was sitting there..on the floor, as still as stone. It  
  
just wasn't right. Sasami crept closer. She could now see Ryoko's shoulders shuddering  
  
slightly. The tough, ever-ready-for-a-rumble space pirate...was crying. Sasami stood  
  
up. She *had* to do something to break Ryoko out of her apathy before she did something  
  
really stupid, like...suicide, or something. "Hi, Ryoko!" Sasami said, cheerfully.  
  
"Oh...Hey, kiddo." Ryoko said, standing up, and dashing away tears angrily  
  
before turning to face Sasami. "What's up?"  
  
Sasami pretended not to notice Ryoko's red, puffy eyes, and the large bags under  
  
them. "Not much, unfortunately. Hey, do you wanna play some videogames or something?"  
  
"Fat chance, kid. You always beat me at those. It's not any fun if I can't win  
  
once in a while, now is it?" Ryoko said, managing a tenuous smile.  
  
"Hey! You won...wait, let me think...oh, never mind." Sasami said, scuffing  
  
her feet petulantly.  
  
"I'm sorry, kid. Not much to do on this old boat, now is there? Ryo-Ohki's not  
  
really outfitted for pleasure cruises."  
  
"It's not your fault, Ryoko. I just wish I knew why I had to be out here, away  
  
from my friends and family."  
  
"So do I, Sasami, so do I. But King Azusa, in his infinite wisdom, felt it was  
  
best if all the royal eggs weren't gathered in one basket, so another lucky attack..."  
  
"That *wasn't* your fault, Ryoko." Sasami said, persuasively. "I don't blame  
  
you for it, and neither does Tenchi. Sometimes, I think Aeka just uses it as another  
  
excuse to fight with you."  
  
"No, Sasami. It was my fault. I know it. I should have been able to stop him  
  
from invading my mind whenever he wanted to. I could have...if I'd only tried harder..,  
  
you wouldn't have been...hurt. Aeka would be happy...all of those soldiers..would still  
  
be alive...it *was* my fault." Ryoko's eyes fill with pain as she gazes at Sasami.  
  
"Ryoko..."  
  
"Drop it, Sasami. Drop it." Ryoko's eyes cloud over, as she remembers punching  
  
a hole through a soldiers ribcage, pulling his heart out, and hearing Kagato's perfect,  
  
inhuman laughter echo through her lips before she is forced to eat the mans heart in  
  
front of his horrified comrades.  
  
"Ryoko? Ryoko? Are you all right?"  
  
No, Sasami, I'm not. And I never will be. Where's the sake? That's right...  
  
we're out. Damn. "I'm fine, Sasami. Don't worry so much." Ryoko faked a cheerful  
  
grin. "So, Sasami, anything else you want to do today?"  
  
"Can we go and pirate something?"  
  
Ryoko breaks out with laughter. "If Azusa could only see you now...bloodthirsty  
  
little pest, aren't you? I'm sorry, Sasami. But I don't think pirating is on the list  
  
of acceptable princessly activities."  
  
"Yeah...I know. But it was worth a try."  
  
"Yeah, I bet. Must get stifling sometimes, always being the perfect princess."  
  
"How about we go and visit my sister? Then, you can see Tenchi, too."  
  
"I don't know, Sasami. That doesn't seem to be a very good idea. The only  
  
people who know that you're with me is Tenchi, Aeka, and that Jurai Royal Gaurd over  
  
there. Heck, even your pops doesn't know you're with me. If I show up over Jurai, they  
  
might think I've come to attack again." Ryoko says, doubtfully.  
  
"Excuse me, miss, but..." The Jurai Royal Gaurdsman began.  
  
"Speak when you're spoken to." Ryoko said. The Gaurdsman flushed.  
  
"Why would they think that, Ryoko? You're not even wanted anymore, and Kagato  
  
is dead. You don't have a reason to attack Jurai." Sasami said.  
  
"I seem to recall being trapped in a very small cave by a certain Jurain noble-  
  
man for seven hundred years." Ryoko replied, drily.  
  
"Oh. That." Sasami blushes a pretty pink. "I...sorta forgot. But they won't  
  
attack you if I'm on board, now will they?"  
  
"Hmmm...Probably not, Sasami. But I don't know..."  
  
"Miss? If we go back to Jurai, I can pick up my paycheck." The gaurdsman said,  
  
faintly.  
  
"Did someone ask you something? No? Then shut up." Ryoko snarled.  
  
The gaurdsman begins to sweat. Double hazardous duty pay isn't worth living  
  
with Ryoko. But Sasami seems to like her, and Ryoko is so nice to Sasami. Huh. She's  
  
nothing like what I thought. Wait, yeah she is. Except with something of a soft spot  
  
for Sasami  
  
"Azusa would be so pissed..." Suddenly, an unholy gleam of joy fills Ryoko's  
  
eyes. "You've convinced me, Sasami. It's off to Jurai we go."  
  
************  
  
On Jurai, in the Royal Palace:  
  
"What's wrong, Tenchi? You seem so down, lately." Aeka asked, coming up behind  
  
Tenchi, who was sitting, head in hands, on the couch listening to some Councilor of  
  
somewhere or other make an impassioned plea to the Jurai Royal Council...to get chewing  
  
gum declared illegal. "Is it the political lessons? You seemed to be handling those so  
  
well, though. What's this?" As Aeka looks at the screen, she slowly starts to smile,  
  
and then grin. A small giggle escapes her lips. She composes herself, and then  
  
suddenly, a full throated laugh erupts from her. Gasping helplessly, she rolls on the  
  
floor, laughing.  
  
Tenchi is off the couch in a flash. "Aeka! What's wrong? Should I call a  
  
medic?"  
  
"No...no, I'm (giggle) perfectly... (giggle) fine, Tenchi." She says, giggling.  
  
"Don't mind me one bit." Aeka stands up, and rearranges her clothing with quick,  
  
dignified movements.  
  
"Are you sure?" Tenchi asked, still concerned."  
  
"Yes, my Lord Tenchi. I'm fine."  
  
"Oh...all right then." Tenchi said, sitting back down. "Well, since you asked,  
  
I'm having problems with this." Tenchi indicates the screeen with disgust. "I don't see  
  
why your father needs help with that kind of thing."  
  
"Oh, is that all? Well, Father doesn't need help with that kind of thing. He  
  
probably just thought it would be a good way to show you what kind of idiots some  
  
politicians are, and why someone with a fairly normal amount of commen sense would be  
  
valuable."  
  
"Uh-huh. So, what is this," indicates screen again, "then?  
  
"Well, that's a tape of crackpot day."  
  
"Crack...pot..day?" Tenchi repeated slowly.  
  
"Yes. In an empire as large and influential as ours, we have quite a lot of  
  
real work to do, but we also have an obligation to allow hearings to even the most  
  
ludicrus of proposals. Thus, crackpot day. The people that schedule this set aside  
  
one day, or sometimes two, a month, and put all the people with really stupid ideas in  
  
that time slot. It's still informal, as we can't really say to someone, 'Yes, we will  
  
hear your proposal on crackpot day', because that would be rude. But, it is  
  
unofficially recognized. As you'll notice, none of the most influential, powerful  
  
senators and councilors are here. However, each party puts one or two people in here  
  
with a comlink so they can summon the senators and councilors if something important  
  
does come up."  
  
"That...actually makes sense."  
  
"Well, we didn't become a galaxy spanning empire by being inefficient. Besides,  
  
the tapes of crackpot days are good for a laugh. Ooh, this one'll be a good one,  
  
Tenchi."  
  
On the screen, a humanoid representative, well, except for the three arms and  
  
two heads, came up to the podium. "Friends and gentlebeings, I bring greetings from  
  
sector ZZ9 plural Z Alpha. I've come here today, to make a proposal that henceforth  
  
all meetings of the Royal Council be conducted in the nude." There is a moment of  
  
shocked silence. In the back, a woman shakes her head. Slowly, laughter begins to  
  
build in the auditorium. The man on stage makes a very complicated bow, and saunters  
  
off the stage casually.  
  
"That's a representative from the sector of space Colony 315, your homeworld, is  
  
in. About once or twice a year, he makes the same proposal. Everybody knows he just  
  
wants to get an eyefull of Mother and Aunt Funaho, but lately, he's been getting more  
  
support, especially among the younger senators."  
  
"Jeez...I never knew politicians could be so dumb."  
  
"Have you forgotten Seiryou already?"  
  
************  
  
On board the Ryo-Ohki, approaching Jurai space.  
  
"Dammit! No!! Watch out. Dodge this! DAMMIT!!!! Sasami, how do you do that?"  
  
Ryoko asked.  
  
"It's easy. Just press down, down-towards, towards, and then punch quickly."  
  
Sasami demonstrates the move. "See? Simple."  
  
Ryoko tries it again, and fails miserably. "I guess I just don't understand this  
  
hunk of prehistoric rubbish." Ryoko stands, kicking at the PS2 on the floor.  
  
"Miyah! Miyah. Mi." Ryo-Ohki said.  
  
"Alright, alright. I'm coming." Ryoko said, feigning weariness.  
  
"Wh-" The gaurdsman started.  
  
"Shut up." Ryoko said. "No one is talking to you." The gaurdsman shuts up,  
  
and follows Ryoko to the bridge. On the main view screen is a view of Jurai, with ships  
  
and estimated threat levels overlaying it.  
  
"What? We should have been stopped long before we got this far. Where are the  
  
checkpoints, the customs ships, the..." His voive trails off as he sees Ryoko looking at  
  
him. Just looking. "Umm.......Sorry?"  
  
"Shut up." Ryoko said. "But you're right. Most ships would have been stopped  
  
by now. But they didn't call me the most feared space pirate in the galaxy for nothing."  
  
************  
  
Orbital Command/Communications Station 2  
  
The lidar officer was napping at his station. For a second, Commander Carvin  
  
Kenzaki considered throwing something at him, but then the ensign woke up. "Having a  
  
pleasant dream, Ensign?"  
  
"Sir? Oh, ah..No, sir. Of course not." the ensign replied.  
  
"Anything on the screens, Ensign?" Carvin asked. He almost wished something was,  
  
that wasn't supposed to be there, just to liven the deadly dull of Orbital duty.  
  
"No, sir. Wait, just now picking something up. It's very faint, sir. Should I  
  
go active?" The ensign asked, hopefully.  
  
"Do it. Use the Ku-band. The fire-control techs could use little practice."  
  
Carvin replied.  
  
"Yes, sir." The ensign replied, concealing his surprise. The Ku-band was only  
  
used for weapons lock. "Going active. Still not getting much of a return off of it,  
  
but it's close enough now that we can pick up it's energy signature." They wait,  
  
patiently, for the computers to run the trace through and decide what it was. Most  
  
likely, Carvin thought, it's one of those new, supposedly undetectable light destroyers.  
  
The computer came up with the list of all known ships that matched the energy profile of  
  
the approaching object. There was only one ship on the list. Slowly, his stomach turned  
  
to ice. "Sir, there's only one ship on the list, do you want me to hail the..uh..  
  
Ryo-Ohki?"  
  
"No. Release all weapons. Prepare to recieve fire." Carvin said, quietly.  
  
{Dammit, why did this have to happen? I didn't mean it! Really!}  
  
"Sir?" the ensign asked, a little startled. He'd never seen his commander act  
  
like this.  
  
"You heard me, now do it!" Carvin yelled. He activates the station-wide comm.  
  
"All hands to battle stations, repeat, all hands to battle stations. Prepare to be  
  
attacked." He shuts off the comm, and turns back to the ensign. "Contact the fleet,  
  
tell them that Ryoko is here. Priority Alpha Omega one, Zulu."  
  
The ensign gasped. Alpha Omega Pri codes were on the top of the list. Drop  
  
everything and come defend the homeworld. Only once before had those codes been used,  
  
and that had been over seven hundred years ago, when a pirate called...what was her name  
  
again? Damn...knew I should have paid attention in history class. Alpha Omega 1, case  
  
Zulu was the same thing, except it was 'drop everything and come prepared to run a  
  
fighting evacuation of the planet.' Oh, that's right! The demons name had been..RYOKO!  
  
"Damn it! Get moving, kid!" Carvin yelled, infuriated.  
  
A soft bong sounded, and a com window opened, revealing a Jurai gaurdsman. "Hi.  
  
Sorry about the entrance, but the Ryo-Ohki was the only ship available at the time."  
  
Carvin boggles slightly at this. "Auth code is as follows: Alpha, one, zero, one, delta,  
  
victor, two, charlie, nine, aleph null." The ensign quickly types the authentication  
  
code in, and his jaw drops as the classification came up.  
  
"Sir, that's a-" The ensign started.  
  
"I know. A Royal Guardsman." Carvin said, quietly. "Gaurdsman. What is your  
  
assignment?"  
  
"To protect Princess Sasami, sir." The gaurdsman replied.   
  
"Princess Sasami? But, isn't she on Jurai?" The ensign asked.  
  
Carvin ignored him. "How did you get that ship, and where is Sasami?"  
  
"Well, in answer to tha-" The gaurdsman was rudely interrupted, as he was thrown  
  
across the room by a slightly peeved Ryoko.  
  
"My ship. My bridge. You touch nothing. Got it?" Ryoko asked the gaurdsman.  
  
Without waiting for a response, she turns to Carvin. "Good day, Commander. I wonder,  
  
can you get me in touch with Tenchi? I'd really appreciate it if you did." Her voice,  
  
once almost mirthful, turns as cold as space itself. "That way, I won't have to get...  
  
nasty."  
  
************  
  
On board Lord Yugo's yacht, high Jurai orbit.  
  
One of the communication techs was playing with a peice of equipment that,   
  
strictly speaking, she wasn't supposed to have. As a matter of fact, by no means should  
  
she have that particular peice of equipment, much less know of its existance. But Lord  
  
Yugo was a persuasive man, who had extensive files on everyone, and he'd pulled a string  
  
or three to get it. Right now, she was listening to the internal communications of one  
  
of the Orbital Command/Communications stations in high orbit. Number 2, to be exact.  
  
Suddenly, she sits up, her face registering her surprise. "Lord Yugo! OCCS2 has gone  
  
weapons free. They've just gone to Red Alert, and ordered all hands to battlestations."  
  
"What? Why would they...hmm. Can you get into their com logs?" Lord Yugo asked.  
  
The tech looked insulted. "I can hack into their live feed, sir. They'd never  
  
even know I was there."  
  
Lord Yugo leaned back in his chair, stroking his goatee. "Do it."  
  
"Yes, sir." A minute or so passes in silence, broken only by the techs murmers,  
  
as she hacks into OCCS2's comm loop. Soon enough, she breaks in. "That does it, sir.  
  
Displaying on main screen now."  
  
Ryoko's voice and image comes through. Lord Yugo's face barely registers his  
  
shock. "...don't want to get nasty..." Yugo kept his face smooth, despite a wrenching  
  
sensation in his gut. He loved his planet. He just didn't want to die defending it.  
  
"I'm afraid that's not possible right now." Carvins voice came through, but not  
  
his image, for some reason.  
  
"What do you mean, 'not possible?' You better make it possible, or I'll have to  
  
do something...hasty." Ryoko's voice was even colder now, hard-edged and venemous.  
  
Yugo blanched. In the background, he could make out what appeared to be the  
  
uniform of a Royal Gaurdsman. The man in it was on the floor. And Princess Sasami had  
  
been sent somewhere with only a single Gaurdsman. "Fuck. Could either of them trace the  
  
hack back and find us?"  
  
"It's theoretically possible, Milord, but doubtful," she replied. "The  
  
tech that'd be required to do that is well out of reach of our military."  
  
"Can you say the same thing of Washu?" Lord Yugo politely inquired.  
  
"Of course not. Washu's tech is...unprecedented. And unpredictable." the tech  
  
said, surprised that someone would expect her to predict Washu's technological ability.  
  
"Alright. I want us a to be a hole in space. No active emissions, minimal  
  
passives. Give me a minimum burn course to an intercept with the Ryo-Ohki." Yugo said,  
  
calmly. "Volunteers only. Everybody else, get off the ship."  
  
************  
  
OCCS2  
  
Carvin blanched. Ryoko did /i sound happy. "It's just that he's in a  
  
meeting with someone right now, I can't just get him for you."  
  
"That someone wouldn't be Aeka, would it?" Her voice was almost dripping with  
  
venom. "It better not be."  
  
Suddenly, a new voice intrudes. "Ryoko! You know better than to talk to people  
  
like that! You're scaring the poor man."  
  
Carvin stared in amazement. Was the feared space pirate Ryoko...blushing? "I'm  
  
sorry, Sasami. Old habits die hard, I guess." Ryoko said.  
  
"That's better, Ryoko. Now apologize to the nice Mr..." Sasami peers at the  
  
screen momentarily.  
  
"Carvin. Commander Kenzaki Carvin." Carvin supplied.  
  
"Kenzaki. Apologize to him, Ryoko." Sasami said, sternly.  
  
Carvin stifled a laugh as Ryoko glared, first at Sasami, then at him, and finally  
  
back at Sasami. He could almost hear her saying, 'Do I have to?' Finally, she sighed,  
  
turned back to him, and said, "I'm sorry, Commander Kenzaki, for being so cold and  
  
threatening."  
  
"Call me Carvin. I hate formality. Apology accepted, by the way." Carvin  
  
paused. "Umm...does this mean that you aren't going to attack Jurai again?"  
  
"You could make that assumption. After all, here I am, taking orders from the  
  
second crown princess of Jurai..." Ryoko said, amused.  
  
"Hrmmm. Well, I suppose that means we should stand down, as well."  
  
"I would appreciate that. That way, no unfortunate misunderstandings could take  
  
place." Ryoko grins wickedly.  
  
"Ah...yes. I'm sure King Azusa would greatly apreciate that. It took us almost  
  
four hundred years to completely recover from the last such...misunderstanding...we had  
  
with you." Carvin said, wondering if he was insane to say such a thing.  
  
Ryoko lost her grin. "Yeah, well...that wasn't exactly my idea, you know. Hey,  
  
you wanna give me an approach pattern, or maybe I should just, you know, land  
  
unannounced?"  
  
"Err...sure. One sec. Ensign, stand us down from red alert, send a cancellation  
  
signal to the fleet, and get an appropriate approach pattern for Ryoko. Full  
  
courtesies." He turns back to Ryoko. "Say, just what is the whole story on that? I've  
  
heard bits and pieces, but the majority of it's been declared 'so secret we'd like to  
  
mindwipe everyone even remotely involved.'"  
  
"Not surprising, considering what was involved." Ryoko said.  
  
"What was involved?" Carvin asked, genuinely curious now.  
  
"Well, the whole thing was one of ol' Kagy's idiotic plots to gain ultimate  
  
power. The plan was to use me to 'distract' Jurai's military while Kagy stole the Prime  
  
Tree, Tsunami. Fortunately for y'all, that kinda fell through."  
  
Carvin blinked. That had been a distraction? She hadn't been /trying/ to  
  
wipe out Jurai's military? "Umm...that was a distraction?"  
  
"Yeah. Humiliating, isn't it? I got mine, though, when Yo-chan beat the ever  
  
living daylights out of me and locked me up for seven hundred years or so."  
  
"Yo-chan?"  
  
"Good 'ol Yosho...you know, the former first crown princw of Jurai?. Excellent  
  
fighter. If I'd been in my right mind I coulda taken him, but..." She smiles  
  
disarmingly.  
  
"Right...What is it?" Carvin turns to the ensign, who was signalling him.  
  
"Sir, the trees, they're picking up something odd...something dark." He said.  
  
"What of it?" Carvin replied.  
  
"Normally I wouldn't bother reporting this, even the trees are unsure of the  
  
contact, but...it seems to be on a collision course for the Ryo-Ohki..." he said,  
  
cautiously.  
  
"Hmm...okay. Ryoko, I'd recommend some evasive action. Our trees are picking up  
  
something on a collision course with your ship. We're unsure of what it is, and we can't  
  
get a clear track on it, so..."  
  
"Alright. Not a prob. Beginning evasive acti- WHAT THE HELL!?" The dark shadow  
  
is revealed, as it opens up in a full out assault on the Ryo-Ohki, scoring a few lucky  
  
hits that knock out Ryo-Ohki's shielding, propulsion, and most of her weaponry. Escape  
  
pods jettison from Lord Yugo's yacht, outlining it in a corona of fire. Its light hawk  
  
wing activates. "What the fuck is going on here!?!"  
  
"How the hell should I know!?! Open fire on that ship! All batteries, fire!"  
  
Carvin yelled. "Get me a comlink to that asshole!"  
  
"Sir! That ship is hailing us! On the main screen...now!"  
  
Lord Yugo's face appears. "Why the hell are you firing on me!?"  
  
"I don't know. Why the hell are you on a suicide charge for Princess Sasami's  
  
taxi?" Carvin says, soundingly remarkably calm.  
  
"WHAT?!" Yugo's face goes through some remarkable changes. "Ryoko's NOT here to  
  
attack Jurai? Sasami...Shit! CEASE FIRE!"  
  
But it was too late. A wave of dark energy flowed out of the ship and into the  
  
Wing of the Light Hawk that Yugo's ship was able to manifest, turning it blacker than  
  
deepest night for a brief moment before it slammed into the side of Ryo-Ohki, rapidly  
  
eating away at the brave, but doomed, cabbit's superstructure. In the moments of life  
  
remaining to her, she teleported her three passengers to OCCS2...almost. They only made  
  
it halfway. 


End file.
